Engage, Empower and Encourage

A platform to engage, empower and encourage women to enter into a legal cannabis industry. We want to help women build their own businesses, networks and connections

Jasmin Thomas | Founder of Ohana CBD Skincare and Co-Founder of The Entourage Network

My name is Jasmin Thomas, and I am the Founder of Ohana CBD Skincare, as well as Co-Founder of The Entourage Network. The Entourage Network started a few years ago when Jessica Steinberg and myself met at a cannabis co-working space, and as we looked around the room we realised very quickly we were the only women there. With such a nascent industry, we recognised in that moment there was a fantastic opportunity for women to grow the market from within.

At that point, there were no prehistoric notions or structures in place that would prevent us from growing a business or fulfilling the potential of women in leading roles within the industry. Which in turn would have huge economic benefits such as financial independence and gain momentum and experience, pushing women forward in the right direction for equality. At that time, which is three years ago now, there was also the highest rate of females in CEO positions in any multibillion dollar industry.

Since the legalisation of cannabis has happened in places like America, North America and Canada, we have noted that these numbers have actually reduced, with the introduction of other industries, such as law firms, insurance, the VCs and cannabis consultancies organisations. We are seeing an increase in men entering the industry, and predictively it is becoming more male dominated, especially within C-suite level positions and above.

EntOURage Network is a platform to engage, empower and encourage women to enter into a legal cannabis industry. We want to help women build their own businesses, networks and connections, launching brands, and creating positions where they can lead and dominate the industry.

We are a nonprofit organisation, so it is a passion project for both Jessica and I. It's just really important: anything I do and any business that I lay my hand to women are always at the forefront and it has been this way throughout my whole career. As a black female founder, I understand some of the constraints and challenges as I've already faced them. To me, in any kind of professional industry, I want to make sure we are empowering, lifting and supporting each other in the best possible way, and allowing women to really thrive. We are living in modern times where we have such great opportunities and women should be at the forefront of them. The time is now, we can do this, and women can move forward professional and personally. Looking at what's going on in the world, in other countries at the moment, makes me even more grateful that we live in such progressive environments where we have these opportunities.

I also founded Ohana CBD Skincare because I was suffering from Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and I found CBD to be a really effective way of managing some of the frustrating symptoms that I had. Since then, Ohana has evolved. We are now also an educational and wellness platform to help women live their best lives, and introducing corporate wellbeing for women. We run workshops and classes, including yoga, meditation and self care routines tailored specifically for women. We address different issues around women’s health and wellbeing, and support women with autoimmune diseases like myself. There are 4 million people living in the UK at the moment with an autoimmune disease and 80% of those are women. Women have been neglected from medical compensation from clinical and drug trials for such a long time and only within the last 20-25 years are we being included in the conversations. Still to this day only 1.4% of the healthcare investment spent actually filters into the FinTech space, which is very much focused on women’s menstrual cycle and fertility, and this is such a small percentage of everyday medical problems that hinder or affect women.

For us through Ohana CBD Skincare we are really looking at how we can help women look after themselves and become more aware, what are preventative measures, where are we going wrong in the chain and what is happening in environments and in our lives that women are being more commonly diagnosed with autoimmune diseases. With statistics showing that the number of women being diagnosed is aggressively growing by 9% year on year. I’m really passionate about women’s wellbeing, and empowering and supporting women and hopefully through The Entourage Network and Ohana CBD Skincare we can make an impact and encourage positive change.